My twins' everyday toys fit in one large see-through box. I can go through the entire house, grab up toys, and throw them in the box in 5 minutes. Limiting the number of toys also make it easier for them to do some of the picking up (although at 18 months, they tend to put it away and immediately pull it right back out of the box). Their other toys fit nicely on a high closet shelf and come out only occasionally.

This is more of a tip for the super-messy people like me, but this has really helped me. You know how when you see something all the time, it tends to become "normal"? So that little piles or stacks of things don't even register anymore and look clean... Like to me the kitchen counters will look clean even when the dishdrainer is full of dishes and random things that don't belong are cluttering the counters.

Take the time to really, really clean off a surface (or a drawer, an area, or whatever) and try to memorize what it is SUPPOSED to look like-- maybe even take a picture.

Every time I clean my spare room I'm surprised by how accustomed I become to the random stacks of books here, a blanket there, *something* on every surface... I don't even see it anymore but to a stranger it would look so messy and chaotic!

Looking at a space with fresh eyes can be very helpful.

Mara, mama to two boys born 05/2009 and 04/2011, after four miscarriages.

This is more of a tip for the super-messy people like me, but this has really helped me. You know how when you see something all the time, it tends to become "normal"? So that little piles or stacks of things don't even register anymore and look clean... Like to me the kitchen counters will look clean even when the dishdrainer is full of dishes and random things that don't belong are cluttering the counters.

Take the time to really, really clean off a surface (or a drawer, an area, or whatever) and try to memorize what it is SUPPOSED to look like-- maybe even take a picture.

Every time I clean my spare room I'm surprised by how accustomed I become to the random stacks of books here, a blanket there, *something* on every surface... I don't even see it anymore but to a stranger it would look so messy and chaotic!

Looking at a space with fresh eyes can be very helpful.

thank you for writing this. now i finally understand what dh means. i grew up with a lot of clutter and didn't realize how messy everything really looks, even though i'm not nearly as bad as my mom.

sarah

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This is more of a tip for the super-messy people like me, but this has really helped me. You know how when you see something all the time, it tends to become "normal"? So that little piles or stacks of things don't even register anymore and look clean... Like to me the kitchen counters will look clean even when the dishdrainer is full of dishes and random things that don't belong are cluttering the counters.

Take the time to really, really clean off a surface (or a drawer, an area, or whatever) and try to memorize what it is SUPPOSED to look like-- maybe even take a picture.

Every time I clean my spare room I'm surprised by how accustomed I become to the random stacks of books here, a blanket there, *something* on every surface... I don't even see it anymore but to a stranger it would look so messy and chaotic!

Looking at a space with fresh eyes can be very helpful.

It sometimes helps me to take a picture of a room. Somehow when I'm looking at a photo, I can see the things that I don't notice in person.

I make little clothing packets for the kids with gallon-sized Ziplock bags. DS's bags get one shirt, one pair of underpants, and one pair of socks. I flatten them completely and store them, stacked neatly, in his drawer.

okay so this is a FANTASTIC idea

Quote:

never leave a room without taking something with you

TOTALLY going to be doing this from now on

Quote:

Looking at a space with fresh eyes can be very helpful.

ITA - i took pictures when I had my house really really cleaned the way I wanted it... and memorized it. I refer back to it sometimes and instantly get inspired to clean

We had a big toy chest in the bottom of the boys' closet. Made sense to keep it out of sight... at the time.
Now it just is a waste of space. As they've gotten older, their toys have gotten smaller. Their stuff will easily fit into a couple of under the bunk bed totes.
As soon as the trunk is out of there, I'm going to combine their clothes into just 1 chest of drawers and put it in there. They can still put some stuff beside it that needs to hang or whatever. This way their room will look a lot bigger because we will have gotten rid of both big chests of drawers. So they will have a lot more space.
I always go through their room as soon as school starts to get rid of old clothes and toys. Ds1's b-day is the end of August and ds2's is the end of Sept. Then you turn around and have Christmas. If I didn't get rid of everything from the year before, we would have no room! All donated of course unless it is completely broken or missing most pieces (where do the missing pieces go??).

I just realized that one of the most important things I do is to organize things ahead of time.

For example, in my handbag I always have my purse, my checkbook, journal, pads, wipes, napkins and kleenex, antibacterial hand gel, my camera, Unconditional Love Essence, Guardian Angel Essence, Rescue Remedy, and two back-up containers of my daily vitamins and supplements. This way I'm always prepared no matter how quickly I have to run out the door!

In my car, I make sure I have wipes, kleenex, bottled water and snacks (eating out can be expensive), extra clothes for Hope, scissors, a first aid kit, extra pads, extra deodorant, antibacterial hand gel, pens, mini nail files and hand cream.

I love doing the "if it needs to go upstairs, put it on the stairs" thing. It works so well!

Also, one of my favorite tips for keeping things clean is to tidy up a few times a day. This helps a lot when it comes to kids' toys. In the rooms where they play, I keep a large pretty basket (one is an antique laundry basket, and there's a smaller one in the living room). A couple of times a day, I go through the room and toss all the toys into the basket. It keeps the floors clear, and makes for easy "tidying up" when people come over.

I LOVE the bulletin board idea for the socks! Gonna do that one for sure! So many great ideas here.

I'm usually a pretty messy person, but over the past week I've been doing very well and here's what has been working for me:

I set aside 45 mins a day for cleaning. I split them into 30 mins for the kitchen, and 5 minutes each for any three rooms in the house. I set the timer and go. If DD interrupts, I just stop the timer, take care of her needs and then start it back up again when I can. I find that the 5 minute thing REALLY works well. I'm amazed at how much I can do in that small amt of time. When the timer goes off, I stop and move to another room, no matter how much momentum I have in the room I'm in. This way, I get something done in all the rooms: so instead of one clean room, and several messy ones, I have a "lived in" but completely acceptable look to all my rooms. I'm also finding that even though I started with some very messy spots, that the 5 minutes a day is letting me really get those under control.

One other thing I've started doing is putting a hand towel on my vanit to use to wipe my hands after toothbrushing, makeuping, etc. , and every three days or so, I use it to wipe down the vanity and the sink, put it in the wash pile and get a clean towel to put on my vanity. I also do something similar at the table. We have a community cuptowel on the table during meals instead of napkins, and after that meal, I use it to wipe off DDs messy hands, then the table, then the blast area she's created under the table.

My fridge is covered with lists! I rip scrap paper into little squares and use as needed. Currently I have:

--a shopping list
--a list of 'Things I need to get done today'
--a list of 'Household tasks which need completing at some nebulous future date'
--a quick-reference list of vegetarian meals, to inspire me to cook meatless more often
--a quick-reference list of vegetarian, dairy-free meals, for when my sister visits twice a week (I can never think of anything on the fly!)

My fridge also contains a Braille alphabet, a notice about the White Elephant sale at a neighboring school (hopefully to inspire me to dejunk) and a chart with daily food servings which is supposed to help me keep track of how much dairy, grains, fruit, veggies, meat/protein and water I consume. The latter would work a treat if I actually remembered to DO it (and if I could figure out how to categorise things like 'trifle'!).

But anyway. My 'to do' list today has 8 items, thusly:

--Make brownies for MIL
--Make chicken stock
--Get rust stains off teatowels
--Wipe down appliances
--Email A. (a friend)
--Make dinner (with remains of the chicken meat used for stock)
--Ring Dad to ask if he has a few theological tomes I want to borrow
--Make yoghurt

I accomplish such tasks by timers and rewards. For instance, I'll probably make myself put the chicken stock on to simmer before I get to dance to music and then have a shower, get dressed etc. Then I'll set the timer for maybe 15 minutes and accomplish as many of the tasks as possible before letting myself surf the web/have a lolly/chat to DH online. (Yes, I bribe myself with lollies!).

Call it childish, but it works for me.

Oh, my other organisation tip is re. the stock. I've taken to saving all 'stockable' veggie trimmings in a ziplock bag in the crisper. Celery trimmings, the ends of onions and carrots, that sort of thing. It's taken a while to get DH onboard--he's a kitchen klutz and occasionally forgets, throwing away good stuff or putting moldy carrot tops in the stock bag; but that's okay, learning process and all. Then when we (rarely) have a roast chicken, I just add the bones and the contents of the stockbag to water and voila. Or I make just plain veggie stock, which is much nicer than I expected. I freeze it either in big quantities for soup, or in one-cup quantities to jazz up a cheese sauce, etc. I know it's not the most original tip in the world, but it's one of the few things I actually DO; and it works!

Oh, my other organisation tip is re. the stock. I've taken to saving all 'stockable' veggie trimmings in a ziplock bag in the crisper. Celery trimmings, the ends of onions and carrots, that sort of thing.

But, I do have a tip that has helped me. Earlier in my marriage, before I let clutter take its grim hold, I loved to collect various glazed vases, bowls and pitchers (nothing fancy, just yard sale finds). Then as time went on, I noticed with great sadness that they were sitting neglected, dusty and unused on shelves. I could no longer enjoy their beauty in such a state, and they were taking up space.

Then it suddenly came to me one day that I could use these items to hold other things...

For example, I used a lovely old blue pitcher to hold the bottle of dish-washing liquid at the sink. That way, I got to see and enjoy that pitcher every day, and it had a function! Likewise, I use a vase that my husband gave me as a Mother's Day gift to hold cooking spoons and spatulas on the kitchen counter. Previously, it had been languishing away on a shelf, collecting dust and only noticed when I had picked the occasional bunch of flowers. I needed something to hold the utensils, so instead of buying something new, why not use the beautiful gift that just happened to be the right size and shape? My husband was so pleased to see it utilized in such a way, and I smile each time I pull a spoon from it. I have another item, a beautiful glazed bowl, that sits on the counter to hold snacks and clothespins for closing all of those half-eaten bags of animal crackers and the like. A Hull pitcher holds pencils, and a small, squat little piece of pottery is great for loose change. An interesting old metal pitcher that my 96-year-old great aunt-in-law gave me is used to scoop chicken feed (it is too pitted and rusted for indoors). A coffee cup that my husband was given at work as an award is used to scoop laundry detergent (we already have plenty of coffee cups, and no one here even drinks coffee at home!).

Several of those pieces I got in years past are still unused, but as I de-clutter, I am thinking of more ways to make them a functioning part of my household instead of just more clutter.

I guess that seems kind of obvious, but for years I put such items on a shelf to "showcase" them, which ultimately led to their neglect. Now they are no longer uni-taskers... they can be enjoyed for beauty and function!

All of my drawers and shelves are labeled (on the inside, when closed the house looks normal. Really.) It helps me and my husband both put things back in the same spot vs when we each thought things went in different spots. The garage shelves are also labeled and it is the only way to maintain any sense of order in there at all.

Katie, mama to one big boy (6/03) and one little boy (12/08) with a new little one due in Mar 2016.
It is never the wrong time to do the right thing.

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this thread has so many great ideas i just cant wait to dive in headfirst and get rid of stuff....like my 2 year olds clothes...hes got 2 dressers and a closet full of clothes : he probably doesnt need that many and hes also beginning to outgrow a lot of them too so now is a great time to thin down.
i already went and put my 1 spare set of sheets under my mattress and it emptied out the trunk in my closet floor. now i can have a roomier closet
YIPPIE!

Making a schedule for the week and sticking to it! Every day I give myself one big cleaning task and one organizational task. For example Mondays, wednesdays and saturdays I clean the floor. Tuesdays are bathroom, thursdays are bedroom and friday is living room. Then each day I choose something on top of that... reorganizing a cupboard, for example. I also schedule errands for the week. For example friday is my market day, which means it is also my day to pre-chop veggies and organize the fridge. Then saturdays I do any bulk cooking or baking for the week. Sunday is my day off, but I still do all the necessary cleaning like the kitchen and I make the bed every day for example. I don't let myself go to bed with a messy kitchen. I try to do dishes and clean the kitchen after every meal. If I don't do that, it piles up, so I have to do it.

One thing I find helpful is to have an easily accessible place for things. DD's toys are stashed in stackable crates that she can get to. At her change station on the bed, I have everything organized and ready... I get this done in the morning. Blanket to change her on, toys for her to play with in a basket, cloth dipes and wipes, spray bottle all on hand in a little basket... all which are easy to move at night time. In the bathroom we have a place for evrything, including a colourful bucket for DD's bath toys, where I throw them all after she's done. Clean, easy and looks nice.

In our cupboards I have a shelf for things.... cleaning shelf for laundry stuff, cleaning agents, rags, buckets, iron, etc. Craft shelf. Towel and extra toiletries shelf. And for laundry, I'm going to get this thing from ikea that has three storage bins... so one will be for whites, one for darks, one for colours, and when one fills up, I do a load.

I just try to think of ways to make it easier to be organized. Keep it close on hand and put it in something pretty like a basket or colourful bin

Store things near their point of use (cups near sink, coffee and coffee supplies in cabinet near coffee maker on counter if you leave it out, etc.)

Grouping supplies by function. In our kitchen we have our hand mixer, whisks, measuring cups/spoons, baking spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.) all together in one dishpan. Got this idea from some book I read (either Confessions of an Organized Homemaker or Sidetracked Home Executives I think?).